1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an imaging device having a plurality of imaging elements and an imaging method which are applicable to a digital camera.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there is an imaging device which raises the frame rate of image data by increasing the drive frequency of an imaging element, performing pixel addition driving, and driving (partial read-out driving) the imaging element in such a way that only image data in an partial area of the imaging element is read out.
The process time of an auto focus (AF) process by a contrast detection scheme depends on the frame rate of image data. If the frame rate is high, the AF process time can be reduced by what corresponds to that the frame rate becomes high.
To reduce the AF process time, there is a technique which displays an image in a partial area in real time, and displays an image imaged at past in the other areas when the AF process is in progress, thereby displaying a through image in real time when the AF process is in progress, and reducing the AF process time (Unexamined Japanese Patent Application KOKAI Publication No. 2003-333409).